Total pages in book: 164
Estimated words: 152853 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 764(@200wpm)___ 611(@250wpm)___ 510(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 152853 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 764(@200wpm)___ 611(@250wpm)___ 510(@300wpm)
Right now, I don’t particularly care about their happiness. Not when mine is nonexistent. “That’s great. Did she go upstairs?”
“To the nursery. I’m sure she’ll want to show you what we bought today.” He’s so oblivious he can’t see how mad I am. Mad at him, at Romero, at myself. Mostly at myself. I don’t know why I expect more from him than he’s capable of giving. He’s still a coward at heart, afraid to live without Dad. Maybe he’s the one who should see a therapist.
And to think, I have an entire future of this to look forward to. Wanting him, needing him, and hating him when he can’t give me all of himself. When he makes me feel small and stupid for wanting him.
As I walk through a pine-scented Christmas wonderland that now makes me grit my teeth, it hits me there’s something even worse in all of this. It would be one thing if I believed he truly hated me or at least was indifferent.
But I know that’s not true. He cares. I’ve seen it, felt it. I’ve known it.
What will it take to get him to stop lying to me — and himself?
CHAPTER 37
ROMERO
“You picked up on a lot when I wasn’t here, didn’t you?” I hope I sound encouraging as I observe Nathan wrapping up a few contracts for Callum to sign. There are trust papers in there, too. He wants to set something up for the baby the way he did for Tatum. I watch closely, making sure Nathan doesn’t mix anything up, but he’s on top of it. He had to learn fast while I was out of town.
“Yeah, it’s not that hard.” He throws a guilty look my way and his cheeks go red when he catches my expression. “I didn’t mean it the way it sounded. It’s not easy. It’s a lot to keep straight.”
“Yeah, but you’ve been at it a while now. You’re getting the hang of it.” He looks relieved, and I can only imagine I must’ve made a face that worried him.
I’m sure I made a face, but I doubt it was for the reason he thinks. The fact is, he picked up my job a lot faster than I figured. For the past couple of weeks, as we’ve had these training sessions whenever we both have a few minutes to spare, I’ve witnessed him easily handling everything.
Tonight, he’s fresh off a late dinner between Callum and a few shipping contacts. It was a low-stakes sort of meeting with friendly associates, so I suggested my replacement serve as the boss’s escort and guard. Might as well keep him sharp since Tatum will sign a lease any day now.
I have to bite my tongue to keep from correcting him – he’s got his own system set up, his own way of doing things. I need to remind myself his methods aren’t necessarily wrong. They’re only different.
I’m feeling pretty replaceable right now, in other words. There’s a tightness in my chest and a dull roar in my head. Is this a normal, healthy way of handling the feeling that I’ve been entirely replaceable all this time? Something tells me it’s not. I should be glad he’s picked up on everything so fast. One less thing to think about.
God knows Callum is giving me enough to do when it comes to researching the apartments Tatum is looking at. He expects a complete report of security details — what the buildings offer, what we would need to install to make up for any gaps. I doubt any building will feature everything Callum considers a must-have. I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve rolled my eyes at his demands. I also know better than to try to talk him out of it. When it comes to his daughter, enough is never enough.
But that’s not Nathan’s fault. “Did you confirm the reservations for the hotel?”
His pained groan sets up his response. “It wasn’t easy, but I’m starting to get used to name-dropping when I want things done at the last minute.”
I walk to the window and watch the guards change out for the night. Shit, it’s that late already? “Let me guess. There was nothing they could do to find a room until they knew who it was for,” I murmur while memories of when I first took this job come rushing back.
“Pretty much. I swear to God, the girl I talked to was about to hang up on me before I said the name Torrio.”
“You learn pretty fast that you drop the name first. It feels slimy as shit, but it saves time in the end. You won’t even flinch after a while.” Scoring a hotel room for the week between Christmas and New Year’s, only a week before the holiday, is like turning water into wine. When you’re a billionaire, you can make last-minute decisions like that. “Callum wouldn’t know this, but I have a list of contacts at all of his favorite hotels. If I wasn’t so caught up in researching apartments for Tatum, I would’ve thought to give it to you.”